Richard Ford is one of the truly great landscape artists of the American moment, and his trilogy of Frank Bascombe novels (The Lay of the Land is the third) feels like it’s been carved out of the hard time that marked the last decades of the twentieth century. Appearing as they have every ten years … Read more
Stephen King’s written several thousand books, many of them several thousand pages long: scientific and philosophical treatises, a forty-six volume encyclopedia of an entirely imaginary universe, plus cookbooks, home-repair manuals, and unorthodox handbooks on child rearing. There’s also nearly a dozen memoirs, each largely contradicting the others, not to mention persistent rumors in Internet chat … Read more
Few local troupes can reliably whip up strange magic the way the Dolls do. The troupe’s signature aesthetic—an amalgamation of modern dance, ballet, jazz, and physical theater—incorporates enough gorgeous costumes and giant set pieces so that their productions bubble over into sheer fantasy and spectacle. The new show doesn’t skimp on lush, over-the-top style; its … Read more
Theater Latté Da truly excels at plucking gems from the canon of American musicals, dusting them off, and sexing them up for today’s audiences—all the while somehow retaining their original sweetness—the stuff that endears us to such musicals in the first place. Now Latté Da puts a “raunchy, vaudevillian twist” on Gypsy, the 1959 Broadway … Read more
As with many Off-Leash performances, this one takes place in a garage—a quaint, thirty- five-seater situated behind the home belonging to co-artistic directors Paul Herwig and Jennifer Ilse. “It’s unbelievably unpretentious and really Midwestern,” Herwig has said, with a chuckle. “In New York, nobody has a garage!” As is likely evident from its title, this … Read more
The faculty of the University of Minnesota’s theater arts and dance programs are swimming in so much genius that its productions, done mostly to invite students into the process (and thus, away from the pressures of generating income), are among the most inventive in town. This fall, puppeteer Michael Sommers and physical theater specialist Luverne … Read more
For its thirtieth year, Penumbra is staging an entire season of musical productions—returning to what, we think, is the company’s strength. The setting for its first offering is, appropriately, the Harlem Renaissance, and is built around the twenty-nine songs composed by ace stride pianist Thomas “Fats” Waller at the height of his Jazz Age stardom. … Read more
Given Minnesotans’ time-honored inferiority complex, it’s good to be reminded from time to time that our little corner of the world holds some importance, especially in the world of music. Case in point: For three years now, the continent-bridging Minnesota Sur Seine Festival has successfully lured some of Europe’s most outstanding jazz musicians (mostly French) … Read more
VocalEssence, 120 singers strong, will join forces with the all-male singers of the boutique troupe Cantus to present an evening of folk songs, spirituals, and contemporary classical compositions, all handcrafted right here in the U.S.A. Included are works by Aaron Copland (“Ching-a-ring-chaw”) and Leonard Bernstein (“Make Our Garden Grow”) as well as relative unknowns. A … Read more
Long the greatest cover band in the indie-rock world, Yo La Tengo’s live repertoire (and much of its recorded catalog) includes an exhaustive list of wonderful songs by other people, ranging from the Fall and the Grateful Dead to John Lennon and Captain Beefheart. Of course, Ira Kaplan has proven to be abundantly capable of … Read more